Knitting Yarn and Life

Canyonette Shawl Complete and a New Design on the Boards

I kept waiting for the proper light to photograph the Canyonette Shawl I finished, but realized this morning that it had become an exercise in futility. So yes, the light is not perfect, but the shawl is complete.

I really enjoyed knitting it. I loved the ingenuity of the design and it is a pattern I would recommend for gradient yarns. The way it is put together got me thinking of different ways to construct garments. So I have been looking at and analyzing runway knitting fashion for 2015. I will share what I found in Friday’s post.

At the moment, I am designing again. I have a skein of Blue Moon Fiber Arts BFL Fingering yarn. This is the first I’ve worked with 100% Blue Face Leicester. I love the softness. It seems much softer than merino. Unlike merino, however, it doesn’t have spring. With merino fingering I can achieve a decent amount of textured depth between knit and purl stitches. The BFL, on the other hand, flattens out the knit and purl stitches. While this is good for the overall pattern I had in mind for the sweater, knit stitches pulling the fabric this way and that via decreases and increases. It is not good for the border I planned.

For the borders I planned to use seed stitch or moss stitch. Part of the “look” of this design was to have a textured depth of wide borders to contrast the knit pattern of the body. The firmness of a wide seed stitch or moss stitch border would also help control the knit pattern, by preventing it from pulling the front borders of the cardigan into a wavy design. But the yarn flattens the seed stitch and moss stitch into a mess.

So today I am experimenting with stitch patterns that are not normally used in borders but are firm enough to control the pull. I also plan on changing needle size, which means a gauge change, which means the two pages of math I worked out last night need complete redoing. The cardigan will cover 7 sizes: from 3 mos to 6 years. It’s a lot of math. But I have enough Extra Strength Tylenol in the house for the migraine and a large eraser for my pencil. (Did I ever mention that Yarn Rascal loves to eat eraser shavings tainted with lead from the pencil?) I love life.

A knitter and designer, I also copy edit and tech edit knitting patterns for other designers. I also enjoy crochet. I am an animal lover. Randi is my little Bichon, named after one of my amazing oncology doctors.